Checklist - Accretion Application
(Refer to Circular Letter No. 459and Sections 94(1)(c) and 118(1)Land Title Act)
Black’s Law dictionary defines Accretion as “The act of growing to a thing; usually applied to the gradual and imperceptible accumulation of land by natural causes, as out of the sea or a river”.
Fundamentally you must be confident that the land subject to application has grown outward over, and is adjacent to, a body of water owned by the provincial Crown.
The fee for submission of an accretion application is listed on the LTSA Fee Listing.
We encourage you to submit your application through the Electronic Filing System (EFS). The EFS User’s Guide outlines the process to submit an application.
Alternatively, you may submit your application in hard copy. The package must include three copies of a preliminary plan signed by the land surveyor, a copy of this completed checklist, all documents required by this checklist and payment of the application fee. The address for submission is:
Surveyor General Division
Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia
200-1321 Blanshard Street
Victoria BC V8W 9J3
Cheques for application fees are to be made payable to the Land Title and Survey Authority ofBC.
Checklist of Requirements for the Application Package
Preliminary Plan showing:
The natural boundary of the subject parcel according to the plan on which the present title is based;
The present natural boundary as defined in the Land Act;
The present natural boundary of adjacent parcels in order to provide an indication of how the application fits within the overall area;
Monuments and traverse hubs in the vicinity of the present natural boundary;
Relative elevations of the title natural boundary and of the present natural boundary at several locations through the application area, and of the water level at the time of survey;
Features in and around the application area (i.e. trees, retaining walls, structures);
Plotted positions and directions of terrestrial photographs (see below).
Colour terrestrial photographs of the application area showing:
The location of the present natural boundary marked with a black line;
The location of the natural boundary, according to the plan on which the present title is based, marked with a black line;
The flagged location of monuments and traverse hubs in the vicinity of the present natural boundary;
The flagged or painted location of the present natural boundary;
The side boundaries of the application area marked with a black line;
The present natural boundary of adjacent parcels; and
The photograph number clearly marked on the front of each photograph.
A copy of the Crown grant including the Crown grant tracing;
A copy of all pertinentLand Title Act plans of the upland property, plus copies of adjacent Land Title Act plans if they are relevant to the application;
A composite map of the areashowing the parcel(s) subject to the application, the adjacent parcels, and the general trend of the shoreline on either side of the application for a distance of approximately 500 metres;
The civic address of the parcel(s) subject to the application.
The onus is upon the land surveyor to provide conclusive evidence that the application area has lawfully accreted to the upland parcel.
In addition to the requisite plan and photographs,an application needs to be accompanied by a covering letter in which the land surveyor must explain how they have concluded that lawful accretion has occurred.
For certain applications it may be necessary to investigate other sources of evidence to support the application. Other sources can include historical ground and aerial photographs, geotechnical reports on the soils within the application area and reports by other experts. Where the land surveyor has relied, in part, on other sources of information to conclude that lawful accretion in fact exists, copies of this information needs also to be included in the application package.
Once conditional approval is granted and you have complied with any requirements of the conditional approval, you may seek final approval as follows:
The electronic plan affixed to a digitally signed Certification Form accompanied by an electronic Application to Deposit Plan at Land Title Office Form (Application Form) is to be submitted to the Surveyor General throughEFS.The EFS User’s Guide outlines the process to submit the plan.The Application Form is to be as complete as possible, containing signature blocks for all consenters and approvers, but not digitally signed by a Subscriber. Upon signature of the appropriate certificate on the Application Form by or on behalf of the SurveyorGeneral, the Form will be scanned and e-mailed back to you.
Checklist of Requirements for the Final Plan
The plan must depict the “present natural boundary” in the location conditionally approved;
Lawfully eroded areas must be denoted as “Returned to Crown”, and the Application Form must contain the certificate for the ApprovingOfficer;
In areas without accretion or erosion, the natural boundary depicted on the plan must match the titled natural boundary and be labeled as such;
The plan heading should not refer to “pursuant to section 94(1)(c) or section 118(1)”;
The plan heading needs toinclude “…And Accreted Land”;
The accreted land must be labeled “accreted land” in ghosted text; and
The title natural boundary must be depicted as a light dashed line.
Last update October 2015
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